AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-208
The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor-
mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite
Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space
including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur
Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building,
launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio
satellites.
The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur
Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it.
Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to:
ans-editor at amsat.org.
In this edition:
* Goodbye HAMSAT-VO52 - Rest In Peace
* Ham TV Test Mode Operation, Planned start-up on 22 July
* Amazon Smile Update
* Return envelope sent with AMSAT-NA ballot package has old address
* Reid Wiseman KF5LKT Activates ARISS During ARRL Centennial
* AMSAT Symposium Only Ten Weeks Away
* 2014 AMSAT Symposium Trips, Social Events, and Tours
* How to contribute to the Fox-1C satellite.
* ARISS News
* Satellite Shorts From All Over
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-208.01
ANS-208 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 208.01
>From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD.
DATE July 27, 2014
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-208.01
Goodbye HAMSAT-VO52 - Rest In Peace
In a posting to the AMSAT-BB July 21, Mani Subramani, VU2WMY/KJ6LRS,
Secretary & Station-In-Charge Upagrah Amateur Radio Club VU2URC ISRO
Satellite Centre, sadly reported "HAMSAT VO-52 succumbed in Space on
11th July 2014..."
Dear Friends,
With heavy heart, I sadly convey, that our little angel 'HAMSAT VO-
52' would no more be able to offer her services to the 'Amateur Radio
Fraternity. HAMSAT VO-52 succumbed in Space on 11th July 2014, while
she was on her 49,675th orbit, due to the failure of on-board lithium
ion batteries that have met their end of life.
Although her desires were to be at work with other systems and sub-
systems working normal as per the latest telemetry received, the on-
board computer recurring to 'Reset' mode due to the failure of
batteries is preventing her to do so. Hence, it is decided not to
expect any more meaningful and reliable services from HAMSAT VO-52.
Since 11th July, every best possible effort has been put in by the
spacecraft controllers here in ISTRAC Bangalore to revive her back to
life and to help her with work load, so she won't be swamped when she
returns, but with no luck. Though it is hard, the HAMSAT VO-52
designers and controllers insist that the time has come to let the
little angel free in space to go drifting on her own from their care
and custody.
Thus, today 21st July 2014, ISRO have decommissioned 'HAMSAT-VO52'
officially.
We all here in ISRO do definitely hope that 'HAMSAT VO-52' worked
tirelessly and was a good friend to the 'Amateur Radio Fraternity'
around the World. We are sure that HAMSAT was loved by all who worked
through her. Though, we are deeply saddened by the loss of HAMSAT VO-
52, but she will never be forgotten and far from our hearts, minds
and memories.
HAMSAT VO-52 will always be remembered by all of us here in ISRO as
one of the greatest satellites of ours.
Dear 'HAMSAT', looking at the sky, we all say 'Good Bye' to you.
You'll be greatly missed. Rest in Peace.
Nevertheless, at this point of time, on behalf of the World Amateur
Radio Fraternity, we thank each and everyone who contributed to the
great success of 'HAMSAT'.
Particularly, our sincere thanks to the Chairman ISRO, Dr. K.
Radhakrishnan, past chairmen Dr. Kasthurirangan, Dr. G. Madhavan
Nair, Director-ISAC Dr. S.K.Shiva Kumar, past ISAC Directors Dr. P.S.
Goel, Dr. Shankara, Dr. T.K. Alex, Director-ISTRAC Shri. B.S.
Chandrasekhar, scientific secretary Dr. Koteshwar Rao, Project
Director-Shri. J.P. Gupta, Deputy project Directors, Mission Director-
Shri. R.Suresh, Operations Director-Shri. Parimalarangan and each and
every person directly or in-directly contributed.
At this point of time, we also thank AMSAT-India and in particular,
lateShri. Nagesh Upadhyaya-VU2NUD, Shri. B.S. Gajendra Kumar-VU2BGS,
Shri. Prathap Kumar-VU2POP, Air Commodore. Subramanian-VU2UV, Shri.
V.P. Sandlas-VU2VP, Dr.R. Ramesh-VU2RMS, Shri. Nitin-VU3TYG, Mr.
Williams Leijenaar PE1RAH and each and every member.
Pasted below is the message from Mr. R. Suresh, Mission Director:
HAMSAT, the first small satellite by ISRO has been Decommissioned
after nearly a decade of service to the World Ham community.
A true masterpiece among small satellites, designed for one year
mission life, but exceeded all expectations by serving for almost 10
years. A truly autonomous satellite, with "Zero maintenance" in terms
of Mission operations, it provided a springboard to test many new
concepts such as BMU. LI-ion based power system, automatic Spin rate
control and Auto SAOC for maintaining the Satellite attitude without
any ground commanding.
HAMSAT known as "OSCAR-52" among the Amateur HAM operators has been
very popular because of its high sensitivity receiver and strong
transmitter. Indian Radio Amateurs on many occasions conveyed to us
that they have been greatly honored to share the adulations showered
on ISRO and INDIA by the International Radio Amateur for gifting this
wonderful satellite "HAMSAT".
I take this opportunity to applaud the HAMSAT teams at ISAC, ISTRAC
and other centre for their efforts and support, which has made ISRO
proud among the HAM users across the globe.
R,SURESH
MISSION DIRECTOR
HAMSAT
---
Mani [VU2WMY/KJ6LRS]
Secretary & Station-In-Charge
Upagrah Amateur Radio Club VU2URC
ISRO Satellite Centre
[ANS thanks Mani VU2WMY/KJ6LRS for the above information]
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Ham TV Test Mode Operation, Planned start-up on 22 July
Ham TV Test Mode Operation, Planned start-up on Tuesday, July 22
It was announced that HAM TV on board the International Space
Station (ISS) will be activated on Tuesday, July 22, 2014 at 9:55
UTC. Operation will be in the Blank Transmission mode.
The signal is sent from the ISS Columbus module and will be in
Configuration 4: 2.395 GHz and 2.0 MSym/sec. Operation will continue
through August 6, 2014.
ARISS-Europe Chair, Gaston Bertels invites ground stations to submit
reception reports to the following website,
http://www.spaceflightsoftware.com/ARISS_FSTV/submit.php
[ANS thanks David Jordan, AA4KN, ARISS PR for the above information]
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Amazon Smile Update
AMSAT-NA is participating in the AmazonSmile program. AmazonSmile is a
simple and automatic way for you to support your favorite charitable
organization every time you shop at Amazon.com, at no cost to you.
Amazon will donate 0.5% of eligible AmazonSmile purchases to the
charitable organization of your choice. If you do business with Amazon
you can apply your donation by logging into your Amazon account using
http://smile.amazon.com/ch/52-0888529 to designate AMSAT-NA as the
organization of your choice. You must use the URL smile.amazon.com for
AMSAT (or another charity) to receive the donation from your
purchases.
The AMSAT Office reports that to date, AMSAT-NA has received $66.62
from Amazon Smile. If you shop on Amazom.com we encourage your
participation. Every little bit helps.
[ANS thanks Martha at the AMSAT Office for the above information]
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Return envelope sent with AMSAT-NA ballot package has old address
After the 2014 AMSAT-NA Board of Directors election ballots were
mailed, we were notified by our
printer that old stock return envelopes were inadvertently included.
These have the old Silver
Spring, MD address. The ballot postcard and other documents have
the correct Kensington, MD address.
Mail is being efficiently forwarded to the new AMSAT-NA office
address, and will continue to be
forwarded for several months. You may use either the envelope
included in the packet, or your own
envelope or address label to send the ballot to the current address:
AMSAT
The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation
10605 Concord Street
Kensington, MD 20895
USA
We and our printer regret any inconvenience. Whichever method you
chose, please return them promptly
to ensure that your ballot is received by 15 September!
Alan Biddle
WA4SCA
AMSAT Corporate Secretary
[ANS thanks Alan WA4SCA for the above information]
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Reid Wiseman KF5LKT Activates ARISS During ARRL Centennial
An unexpected treat happened in Hartford on Saturday morning during
the ARRL Centennial. Patrick Stoddard WD9EWK had planned on being
outside the convention center for ISS passes, prepared to show off
the ISS digipeater, and - if a voice was heard on 145.800 MHz talk to
an ISS crewmember.
Patrick reports, "The first of the three workable passes from
Hartford came a little while before the convention officially opened
for the day at 0835 local/1235 UTC. The ISS was passing across the
northern sky, with maximum elevation of 25 degrees. I heard only
packet on 145.825 MHz, and was ableto bounce a few packets through
the ISS digipeater using a TH-D72A and Elk dual-band log periodic
antenna.
"The next pass, around 1010 local/1410 UTC, was the best of the
passes fornthe morning - going across the southwestern sky with
maximum elevation ofn59 degrees. I had a radio listening to both
145.800 and 145.825 MHz. I heard nothing on 145.825 MHz, but thought
I heard something on 145.800 MHz.
"I started calling for NA1SS using my TH-D72A/Elk combination, and
Reid Wiseman (the same astronaut who was on for Field Day last month)
answered my call. My audience went crazy, and I was happy to make
contact and have a nice 3- to 4- minute chat.
"I asked Reid if he might be on the microphone for the next pass over
the eastern USA around 1200 local/1600 UTC. He said he would try,
and we were outside for that as well.
"Once we told people in the hall of the successful contact, the ARRL
made sure there was a larger crowd outside for this pass. Several
minutes before AOS, I was out there again, this time answering lots
of questions from different people. After AOS, I started calling for
NA1SS, but never heard anything on 145.800 MHz during the shallow
(maximum elevation 6 degrees) pass."
[ANS thanks Patrick WD9EWK for the above information]
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AMSAT Symposium Only Ten Weeks Away
Billed as the Charm City Space Symposium, AMSAT-NA's 32nd Symposium
and Annual Meeting will be held October 10-12, 2014 in Baltimore,
Maryland.
* Board of Directors meeting on October 9 and morning of October 10.
* Technical presentations on satellite design/operating begin the
afternoon of October 10 and continue October 11.
* Meet AMSAT Officers and Board members.
* Meet and greet fellow satellite operators.
* Satellites on display.
* Annual general meeting afternoon of October 10.
* Saturday evening annual banquet with door prizes.
* Sunday morning Area Coordinator's breakfast.
* Sunday ARISS Operations Team meeting.
* Sunday and Monday tours.
Hotel: DoubleTree by Hilton -- Baltimore - BWI Airport
890 Elkridge Landing Rd, Linthicum, Maryland, 21090
Phone: 410-859-8400
Ask For: Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation Group or use the Code:
RAS
AMSAT Special Room Rate--$99.00 per night
$10 Breakfast Buffet Coupons--Full Hot and Cold Breakfast*
FREE Parking
FREE WiFi
Free Airport and Close-in Transportation
Easy Train/Light Rail Service to Baltimore Inner Harbor & D.C. Metro
Walking distance to National Electronics Museum
Special Guest Presentations
*Purchase at check-in
A registration form for the Symposium and all events may be
downloaded at
http://tinyurl.com/ANS208-SymposiumRegistration
Online registration is available through the AMSAT Store
http://tinyurl.com/ANS208-OnlineRegistration
[ANS thanks AMSAT Office for the above information]
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2014 AMSAT Symposium Trips, Social Events, and Tours
We will have two "working" events scheduled Sunday morning (October
12)-the Area Coordinators Breakfast and the ARISS Operations Team
Meeting.
Similar to last year's symposium, two opportunities for tours are
planned for the 2014 Space Symposium:
1) On Sunday October 12 (Afternoon), several Small Group/Light Rail
tours are being planned. Symposium participants can choose one of
the following tours: Baltimore Inner Harbor Tour (including the
Aquarium), the B&O Railroad Museum, Edgar Allen Poe House or the
National Electronics Museum.
2) On Columbus Day, Monday October 13 we will take a bus to the
Washington Dulles airport area to tour the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space
Museum. Udvar-Hazy is a phenomenal museum with hundreds of aircraft
and spacecraft, including the Space Shuttle Discovery, an SR-71,
Enola Gay, and many others. The plan is to leave the hotel at 9 am
and return around 4 pm.
In order to get maximum benefit from all the holiday weekend events,
the symposium committee suggests that symposium participants consider
scheduling their airline flights for no earlier than 6 pm on Monday
October 13.
[ANS thanks AMSAT Office for the above information]
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How to contribute to the Fox-1C satellite
With the recent announcement of the launch opportunity for the Fox-
1C Cubesat, AMSAT has an immediate need to raise funds to cover both
the launch contract and additional materials for construction and
testing for Fox-1C. We have set a fundraising goal of $125,000 to
cover these expenses over the next 12 months, and allow us to
continue to keep amateur radio in space.
Contributing to Fox-1C: let us count the ways.
To contribute specifically to the Fox-1C satellite, you can specify
this in your communication with AMSAT, and in the "For" line if you
pay by check.
Via E-mail:
martha at amsat.org
Via telephone:
>From the US call toll free at (888) 322-6728
>From all other locations call (301) 822-4376
Via regular mail:
Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT)
10605 Concord St, #304
Kensington, MD 20895
On line:
Go to www.amsat.org and select the "Support the Fox Satellite"
DONATE button in the upper right. This will take you to PayPal where
you may donate any amount. If desired, you can make this a monthly
recurring donation. You may cancel this at any time through your
PayPal account. All contributions at this time go directly to the
Fox-1C satellite. This is specified in the Reference on the PayPal
page.
Go to the AMSAT Store http://store.amsat.org/catalog/ and select
General Donations from the left column. When you check out, note in
the remarks section that you want the contribution to go to Fox-1C.
However you chose to contribute, thank you for helping to Keep
Amateur Radio in Space!
[ANS thanks the AMSAT Office for the above information]
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ARISS News
Join ARISS us on Facebook : Amateur Radio on the ISS (ARISS)
Follow ARISS on Twitter: @ARISS_status
There were no ARISS School Contacts the week of July 20-26, 2014.
The radios were off for most of the week due to Progress undocking
and docking.
Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule
ESA 2014 Space Camp, Rossall School, Fleetwood, United Kingdom
telebridge via via W6SRJ
Contact is a go for: Tue 2014-07-29 14:01:13 UTC 53 deg
Watch for live audio/video simulcast
Http://www.batc.tv/streams/arissuk/
Space Jam 8, Rantoul Airport & Chanute Aerospace Museum, Rantoul
IL, telebridge via W6SRJ
Contact is a go for: Sat 2014-08-02 12:23:19 UTC 60 deg
ARISS is requesting listener reports for the above contacts. Due
to issues with the Kenwood radio that are not fully understood at
present, the Ericsson radio is going to be used for these contacts.
ARISS thanks everyone in advance for their assistance. Feel free to
send your reports to aj9n at amsat.org or aj9n at aol.com.
Several of you have sent me emails asking about the RAC ARISS
website and not being able to get in. That has now been changed to
http://www.ariss.org/
Note that there are links to other ARISS websites from this site.
QSL information may be found at:
http://www.arrl.org/ARISS/arissfaq.htmlhttp://www.ariss.org/qsl-cards.html
ISS callsigns: DPØISS, NA1SS, OR4ISS, RSØISS
The successful school list has been updated as of 2014-07-11 19:30
UTC.
http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/Successful_ARISS_schools.rtf
Check out the Zoho reports of the ARISS contacts
https://reports.zoho.com/ZDBDataSheetView.cc?DBID=412218000000020415
Exp. 39/40 on orbit
Steve Swanson
Aleksander Skvortsov
Oleg Artemyev
Exp. 40/41 on orbit
Maxim Suraev
Gregory Wiseman KF5LKT
Alexander Gerst KF5ONO
>From 2014-11-10 to 2014-12-07, there will be no US Operational
Segment (USOS) hams on board ISS. Any schools contacts during
this period will be conducted by the ARISS Russia team.
[ANS thanks ARISS, Charlie AJ9N and David AA4KN for the above
information]
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Satellite Shorts From All Over
+ 2014 AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium Presentations to be
Archived
Although the AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium ends Sunday
the British Amateur Radio Club (BATC) would like to inform everyone
that post conference, the videos will be available at
http://batc.tv/ under "Film Archive". Select the AMSAT2014
category.
Trevor M5AKA suggests that, in theory some videos may be uploaded
at 18:00 BST (1700 GMT) on Saturday. Best thing is to check batc.tv
film archive and see if any have turned up, if they have you can be
fairly sure that Sunday's will be joining them on the same place.
The programme for the Colloquium is available at
http://amsat-uk.org/colloquium/colloquium-2014/
[ANS thank Trevor M5AKA for the above information]
+ Join AMSAT on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/7828379515/
+ Follow AMSAT on Twitter https://twitter.com/amsat
@amsat
+ Visit AMSAT online http://www.amsat.org
+ Join ARISS on Facebook http://tinyurl.com/ANS208-ARISS-Facebook
Amateur Radio on the ISS (ARISS)
+ Follow ARISS on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ARISS_status
@ARISS_status
+ Visit ISS Fan Club http://http://www.issfanclub.com/
+ Follow ISS Fan Club on Twitter https://twitter.com/rs0iss
@rs0iss
+ New Version of FUNcube Dashboard Released
According to a Tweet released by @FUNcubeUK early Saturday
morning, a version 847 of FUNcube Dashboard has been released.
Download it now from
funcube.org.uk/working-documents/funcube-telemetry-dashboard
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/EX
In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the
President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining
donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi-
tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT
Office.
Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership
at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students
enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu-
dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status.
Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership
information.
73,
This week's ANS Editor,
EMike McCardel, KC8YLD
kc8yld at amsat dot org